Haryana govt reduces VAT rate on CNG and PNG

Chandigarh: The Haryana government today
reduced the rate of VAT on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and
Piped Natural Gas (PNG) from 12.5 per cent to 5 per cent,
making these fuels cheaper in the NCR regions of Gurgaon and
Faridabad.

A decision to this effect was taken by the State Cabinet,
which met here today under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

At present, the retail price of CNG in Haryana is Rs
30.80 per litre, while PNG costs Rs 16.80 per litre. Following
the 7.5 per cent reduction in the rate of VAT, CNG will cost
Rs 28.65 per litre and PNG will cost Rs 15.63 per litre in the
state, Excise and Taxation Department Special Secretary Anurag
Rastogi said.

The state government has also decided to impose a toll
tax on four roads -- Samalkha-Hathwala Road, Murthal-Nandnaur
-Basodi-Palri Road, GT road to Bega and Ferozepur-Zhirka-Biwan
road up to the Rajasthan border -- Hooda told reporters
shortly after the Cabinet meeting.

On these four roads, a toll tax of Rs 150 per trip,
including the return journey, will be charged from trucks
(laden with goods or unladen), canters and multi-axled
vehicles or bulldozers and earth movers, etc., while Rs 225
for a daily pass and Rs 4,500 for a monthly pass will be
charged from buses and mini-buses with stage carriage permits.

However, defence vehicles, non-commercial vehicles of all
state governments and the central government, police vehicles
and ambulances will be exempt from the tax.

The Cabinet also gave its approval to the proposal of the
Excise and Taxation Department for amending the Punjab
Passengers and Goods Taxation Rules, 1952, to facilitate the
implementation of a new composite fee regime for national
permits.

Under the scheme for a single national permit fee, a
consolidated composite fee of Rs 15,000 per truck per annum is
to be deposited in the national permit account to operate
throughout India.

The consolidated fee deposited in the national permit
account shall be distributed by the central government among
the states and Union Territories on a pro-rata basis.

Last year, the government of Haryana had decided to defer
input tax credit on closing stock till the time of actual
sales. Considering repeated requests from trade associations,
the State Cabinet has decided to withdraw this provision with
retrospective effect.

Meanwhile, the Haryana government has also decided to
grant exemption to clubs from payment of entertainment duty on
admission or other sports fee charged from sportspersons with
immediate effect.

At present, an entertainment duty at a rate of 25 per
cent is levied on clubs in Haryana under the Punjab
Entertainment Duty Act, 1955.

This exemption would be available only for charges being
paid by sports persons themselves and not for others who are
being admitted to clubs for any purpose other than playing
themselves.

The Cabinet further decided to grant Group-A status to
government college lecturers in the state, in line with the
proposal of the School Education Department regarding
amendment of the Haryana Primary Education (Group C)-District
Cadre Service Rules, 1994.

The University Grant Commission has placed the post of
college lecturers in Central Universities in Group-A. The
governments of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have also granted
Group-A status to their college lecturers.

Taking cognizance of this development in neighbouring
states, the Chief Minister had announced the grant of Group A
status to college lecturers in Haryana. The decision of the
Cabinet is expected to benefit about 17,000 lecturers in the
state and comes into force with immediate effect.

The Cabinet also approved the Haryana State Disaster
Management Rules, 2010. These rules have been framed for the
functioning of the Haryana State Disaster Management Authority
and District Disaster Management Authority.

Under these rules, a Secretariat to the State Authority
under the administrative control of the state government, a
state executive committee and a sub-committee of the state
executive committee will be established to handle disaster
situations.

A State Disaster Response Fund and State Disaster
Mitigation Fund will also be established, an official
spokesman said.

The Cabinet also decided to amend the Haryana Municipal
Corporation Act, 1994, to enable the merger of more than one
municipality to form a corporation.

Meanwhile, Hooda informed that the next session of the
Haryana Vidhan Sabha will be convened on September 3 and will
continue up to September 7.

The Haryana Cabinet has given ex-post facto approval to
the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to probe into the
circumstances leading to the incident which occurred at
village Mirchpur in district Hisar on April 21, in which a
houses of Dalits were torched by the miscreants and an aged
man and his physically challenged girl were burnt alive inside
their houses.

The state government had earlier constituted a Judicial
Inquiry Commission headed by a retired Punjab and Haryana High
Court Judge, Justice Iqbal Singh, to inquire into the entire
incident.